


easy

by Diaphenia



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-07 12:41:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4263615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diaphenia/pseuds/Diaphenia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“But first, I think you should talk to someone else.” He stood up, pulling the door open. </p><p>Chloe tumbled in, empty glass in hand. </p><p>“I had a feeling,” Jesse said, before giving Chloe a grin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	easy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Haywire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haywire/gifts).



> Hello Haywire! I bounced around on three different fics, but this one was the first I thought of after reading your prompts. Hope your NPT was a blast!

The lock on her door, like her day at the studio, was stupid. She shoved the key in, and it stuck, just like it always did, and she had to throw her entire weight against it to open it, just like she always did. 

She immediately dropped her bag and her jacket on the floor, just like she always did, and—

There, on the sofa, the sofa her father had given her when she moved across the country and he upgraded his living room set, was Jesse and Chloe, and they were kissing. Like really intensely kissing. It was weirdly hypnotic to watch, but also infuriating. 

Neither of them noticed her, so loud was the Broadway soundtrack they had going. 

_Hakuna matata_ indeed. 

She stomped over the stereo and started pressing buttons, but the stereo was mostly decorative at this point, like who really listened to CDs anymore? It had to be a phone, but she didn’t know which phone, so instead she grabbed a random textbook from the book shelf. Take that, organic chemistry, and at this heavy thud, Jesse and Chloe broke apart.

“Beca—” Chloe said, touching her mouth. 

“It’s not what it looks like,” Jesse said

“Really? Because it looks like you two are playing tonsil hockey,” Beca said. 

“Well, that’s what was happening,” Jesse said. “But it wasn’t like—”

“Oh no, I’m not going to listen to whatever weird bullshit is going on here,” Beca said. She wasn’t going to cry, that much was certain. Instead, she ran into the bedroom.

***

Eventually, there was a knock at the door.

“Can I come in?” Jesse asked, muffled. 

“Ok,” she said, not bothering to move. 

Jesse sat at the end of their bed. “I’m sorry.”

“Good,” she said, feeling spiteful.

“No, that’s not how this conversation’s gonna go,” he said. “If we’re going to do this, you’re going talking, sitting up, not blaming everyone else.”

“I don’t need this—”

“And I didn’t need you to move Chloe into the apartment without even saying anything!”

Beca hadn’t exactly planned to move Chloe in. It’s just Chloe was so excited about moving to LA, after that whole plan to join Teach for America fell through, and she’d promised it would just be for a few weeks, until she’d found an apartment. Beca and Jesse had a sweet set-up, but it was still just a one-bedroom, and their rotating couch was always filled with stray acapella weirdos or couch surfers.

But a few weeks turned into a few months, and Beca had gotten a really good deal on a blow up mattress, and— 

“And I might have liked a little notice before you two started—.”

Beca looked at him sharply. 

“Oh, come off it. I know.”

Beca hadn’t planned that, either. Chloe was just, like, a really good friend, and Beca wasn’t sure about how lady-on-lady sex even worked. If sometimes, during Jesse’s #tbt movie nights, she watched Chloe’s lips, it didn’t mean anything. 

But then one night, following a showing of that completely boring time-travel movie, she and Chloe had stayed up, and Beca had watched Chloe’s lips. She’d watched her eat popcorn and watched her laugh and watched as she pressed a whiskey-sloppy kiss to the corner of Beca’s mouth. 

Beca hadn’t meant to return the kiss, but she had, and after that, she’d kissed Chloe’s shoulder blade and run her fingers under the bottom of Chloe’s shirt. And Chloe had crushed against her, 

And an hour after that, Beca’d slipped into bed with Jesse. He’d woken up, same way he always did, and planted a sleepy kiss on her cheek. 

“It’s not—” She almost finished with, _a big deal_ , but she couldn’t lie like that. “Cheating. It’s not cheating on you.”

“Fine! I get it. You’re in your post-collegiate experimental phase.” He narrowed his eyes. “Like you were _so over_ dating in high school, and you go to college and hook up with the first and most attractive guy who also could duet with you, and you wish you’d played the field a little more.”

“Oh my god, it’s not an experiment!” She unfolded her arms. “It’s not just finding myself, it’s _feelings_ , for _both_ of you and just...” she trailed off. 

“Ok, good, that’s a start. I wish you had told me this six months ago.” He smiled encouragingly. 

“Talking is the worst. I’m more all-action Beca, with optional sullen silence.”

“I’ve heard. It’s just that you never want to talk about anything, even big stuff like this.” He stared at his hands for a super pregnant pause. “And if you wanted me to bow out gracefully, I would.”

“No,” she said, grabbing him. “I don’t want that.”

He kissed her wrist. “We have a lot to talk about.” 

She braced herself.

“But first, I think you should talk to someone else.” He stood up, pulling the door open. 

Chloe tumbled in, empty glass in hand. 

“I had a feeling,” Jesse said, before giving Chloe a grin. 

She righted herself, then gave Jesse a multi-stepped high five. He let himself out of the room, promising not to return until he had acquired a pizza.

“What was that handshake about?” Beca blurted out. 

“Really?” Chloe asked. “That was your first question?”

Beca raised an eyebrow. “You two were making out. Like really making out.”

Chloe sat down on the edge of the bed and folded her hands in her lap. “Do you remember that time I finally got a job as a spin instructor, and I invited both of you to come to my first class, even got you passes so it wouldn’t cost you anything?”

Beca thought back. That had been the week her boss’s prime pop star had gone in for ‘exhaustion.’ Mostly, that week had involved a lot of fetching— getting the pop star’s things, getting Beca’s bosses things, getting unprecedented levels of caffeine from the stripmall across the street. And somewhere in all of that, an unanswered text from Chloe, _where are you?_

“Jesse showed up. And after that, we got froyo, and we started really hanging out, not just as two people who are both _important_ in your life, but as actual friends?”

“And friends make out like that?”

“We were bored.” She shrugged. “I’m not dating Jesse.”

“You shouldn’t be dating anyone else!” Beca sputtered. 

“OK, that’s where we’re going to draw the line,” Chloe said. “Because you can’t just _assume_ you’re going to decide that for me.”

It had never once occurred to Beca that she wasn’t _enough_ for Chloe. It was startling to contemplate. She wondered if Jesse felt that way, too. Maybe they were both already dating other people— Beca was never home, so she’d never notice. She felt her chest tighten at the thought. 

“I’m not,” Chloe said. “Dating anyone else. But I’m not just someone you occasionally debauche on an inflatable mattress.”

“No, you aren’t,” Beca said, leaning forward. 

“So if we’re dating, we’re going to be _dating_ , like you stop telling Aubrey that I’m your ‘live-in karaoke partner’ every time she calls.”

“She’s worried about us keeping up our voices,” Beca said. “It just seemed easier.”

“Beca,” Chloe said. “You always want things to be easy.”

“Do people like working hard? Because I’m here to tell them that’s a lot of BS.”

Chloe smiled. “ _Easy_ would’ve been spending your four years at Barton living in the dorms and avoiding eye contact. _Easy_ would’ve been letting them strip us of our title and spending your senior year partying. _Easy_ would’ve been moving back home after graduation rather than moving to LA and pursuing our dreams, whether we’re talking about working in the movie business, the music business, or making horny men’s dreams come true at the number one strip club in the country within ten miles of LAX.”

“I’m really glad you’re moving into the fitness industry, too,” Beca said. 

“The point is that there’s no reward with _easy_.” Chloe leaned forward, giving Beca a soft kiss. 

“The reward is you?” Beca said flirtatiously. 

“Actually,” Chloe said, over the faint sounds of the front door slamming open. “I think today, your reward is pizza.”


End file.
